Rock River Valley Insider: You don’t have to get sick (pass it on)

You probably already know that washing your hands helps prevent the spread of the common cold, influenza and other viral illnesses.

INSIDE: How it works

Mary Erpenbach

BELOW: How it works

You probably already know that washing your hands helps prevent the spread of the common cold, influenza and other viral illnesses.

But did you know that you could also be warding off conditions ranging from eye infections and hepatitis A to parasitic invasions and the Eppstein-Barr virus?

“Hand-washing with any soap helps wash away particles and secretions,” said Dr. Mitchell King, a physician and the interim regional dean for the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford. “There’s nothing that’s been proven any better at preventing the spread of many illnesses.”

And some of those illnesses, although relatively rare, can be deadly. What you wash off, for instance, could have been the bacteria that causes the super-staph infection known as MRSA.

In fact, washing your hands is so important in preventing the spread of illnesses that the World Health Organization embarked on a global initiative a couple of years ago to get more people to wash their hands more often. As a result, Oct. 15 is Global Handwashing Day.

Some well-known illnesses are spread through the air, but many others are also spread by contact with a contaminated object. The flu virus is like that: It can be transmitted by air or it can linger for two to eight hours on a countertop or clothing, just waiting for you to touch it and then infect yourself by touching your mouth, nose or eyes.

You can get food poisoning, such as salmonellosis, from a contaminated cutting board or by eating food that was touched by someone who didn’t follow a proper hand-washing protocol and transferred the bacteria to your meal.

Vaccinations can also prevent illness and disease.

“There are many diseases that were once fairly common that we just don’t see anymore, or rarely see, because they have been reduced or eliminated by vaccines,” King said.

But when it comes to the largest category of preventable diseases, hygiene isn’t much help. That’s because these diseases are linked to lifestyle choices instead of to soap and water.

Smoking, not eating a healthful diet, being sedentary instead of active — each can lead to well-known and serious health complications.

Genetics and heredity play roles, too. But cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes — which affect far more people every year than, say, cancer — can be mitigated or prevented simply by making healthy lifestyle choices.

“All of those things that your mother once told you about getting enough rest and staying active and eating right, that is all good advice,” King said.

How it works
Proper hand-washing takes a lot longer than most people think. Here are the steps recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
— Wet your hands.
— Apply soap.
— Rub into a lather.
— Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
— Dry your hands.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.